This volume of scholarly essays explores the ideas of union and empire current at the time of the Union between Scotland and England in 1707. It demonstrates for the first time the wider significance of the Union in Europe and throughout the English-speaking world. It is a major contribution to the growing interest in "British" history, but should also be of considerable interest to all students of political and economic unions, a subject of increasing importance and obvious relevance in contemporary Britain, Europe and North America.